Jack Straw said today that he was "greatly frustrated" by the way the Human Rights Act was sometimes interpreted by the courts.

The justice secretary also said that he could understand why the act was seen as a "villains' charter" by its critics.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Straw - who introduced the act 10 years ago when he was home secretary - said he would soon be publishing plans to "rebalance" the legislation with new "responsibilities" to obey the law and to be loyal to the country.

"In due course I could envisage that there could be additions made to work in the issues of responsibilities," he said.

His comments were strongly criticised today by the pressure group Liberty, which suggested that British freedoms were not safe in Straw's hands.

In his interview, Straw acknowledged that there were genuine public concerns about the way the act, which enshrined the European convention on human rights into UK law, had been used in some cases by prisoners to avoid punishment or to prevent the deportation of Islamist extremists.

He blamed "nervous" judges for refusing to accept assurances from ministers that such removals were in the national interest.

"I fully understand that [Daily Mail readers] have concerns about the Human Rights Act," he said.

"There is a sense that it's a villains' charter or that it stops terrorists being deported or criminals being properly given publicity.

"I am greatly frustrated by this. Not by the concerns, but by some very few judgments that have thrown up these problems."

Straw is due to publish his plans for reform in a green paper in January. One plan he has been considering is whether to create a new bill of rights and responsibilities.

In his interview, Straw was also highly critical of the way some lawyers were operating using the "no-win, no-fee" system - another reform introduced by Labour intended open up greater access to the justice system.

"The fact is that we've had in this country in the last 25 years an astonishing growth in the number of lawyers and also in legal aid," he said.

"I'm concerned, and so are many senior lawyers, about those operating at the margins of acceptability, the 'ambulance chasers' and those using no-win, no-fee."

Straw also disclosed that he had instructed his officials to fight workplace compensation claims at the Ministry of Justice, the prisons, the probation service and other services under his control rather than settle out of court.

"People concede these claims because the cost of fighting them could be high. My view is that unless you have good reason to concede, you should fight each, to discourage others," he said.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: "The public will have to judge this latest headline and decide if Britain's freedoms are safe in Mr Straw's hands.

"They will notice the sheer cheek of a government that has passed mountains of legislation seeking to 'rebalance' power still further so that we owe them even more 'responsibilities'."